


The Change and the Calling

by AroJade (AlleyCatSunflower)



Category: Tales of Xillia
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Coming of Age, Drama, Gen, Pre-Canon, Unlikely Friendships
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:00:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,767
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27555739
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlleyCatSunflower/pseuds/AroJade
Summary: Jude Mathis has always wanted to be a doctor, just like both his parents. At the age of thirteen, he visits Fennmont to apply to Talim Medical School, but instead stumbles upon a badly injured young woman in a Research District alley. That twist of fate, as it turns out, is enough to change everything about Jude's young life, ambition and all. What follows over the next few years, from Fennmont to Kanbalar, is both all he's ever dreamed of… and not quite what he had in mind.
Relationships: Jude Mathis & Presa (Tales of Xillia)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 5





	The Change and the Calling

**Author's Note:**

> This story is the product of a very old idea I had, one of the most crucial elements of which is that Jude, Leia, Agria, and Ivar are three years older at the beginning of Xillia's plot. It has no significance to canon that they're precisely 15 or 16, and now that I am no longer their age, it makes me vaguely uncomfortable to write them so young. (That said, this fic takes place _before_ the start of canon and is the cause of the divergence AU, so Jude actually starts out younger still. Them's the breaks, I guess.)
> 
> Technically, this set of five chapters serves as an "establishing shot" of the actual plot, which does rewrite the events of Xillia within the same timeframe, but don't quote me on that in case I never write the rest of it.

Jude had expected, ever since he had applied to Talim Medical School at the age of thirteen, that his life would change. But he had not anticipated that this change would begin before he was even accepted.

He had come to Fennmont with the blessing of both his parents, but they had remained in Leronde as a test to make sure he could handle it on his own. It _was_ strange to be alone and far from home—in a big city, especially one in a constant state of nighttime—but Jude thought the spirit clime was beautiful.

Not that he'd had much of a chance to enjoy it between the skill assessments and placement tests, of course. And Jude had been, without exception, the youngest among his fellow test-takers. He supposed he should count himself lucky for being the son of two doctors, or he might have crumpled under the pressure.

But all that was finally over now. It was time to officially submit his application for processing.

Jude had gotten his exams done the day before, so he had all day to do it, or at least as long as the front desk was open. He may as well wander around the city a bit and do some sightseeing, since he'd have to leave tomorrow. Hopefully he'd be back soon; he liked this place much more than he'd thought he would. There was a sense of anonymity that Leronde lacked, and Jude found it freeing.

One advantage of perpetual night was that the city never looked different, no matter what time it was, so Jude had never gotten lost before. However, following a road out of the central plaza, he found himself in an unfamiliar area. The buildings here shone blue, a stark contrast to the yellow light of the tree-lamps reflecting off the calm waterways below.

"The Research District," murmured Jude aloud, reading a sign, and gazed up at one of the buildings apprehensively. That must be why there weren't as many people here as in the rest of the city, and why he hadn't ended up here before.

Maybe he should leave, too. The longer he stood here, the more unsettling this place seemed, despite its beauty. It seemed… unearthly. But as Jude turned to leave, something caught his eye.

A human figure lurked in the shadows, looking like they were trying not to be seen—hunched low to the ground and limping as they ran. Pausing, they leaned against the rail to cough and retch, and something dark spattered on the ground. Then they lurched in a completely different direction and staggered away, toward a tiny space in between the buildings. But Jude's eyes remained fixed on the dark splotch on the cobblestone.

Was that… blood?

Ice flooded Jude's veins. Whoever that was, they were badly hurt. But before he could try to run for help, a commotion from behind him reached his ears: the doors of the Laforte Research Institute, sliding open to admit several soldiers. As they charged forward, the leader yelling indistinct orders to the others, Jude's first instinct was to hide. As a child in the deepest part of the shadows, he was easily overlooked, and the soldiers dispersed in every direction except the one in which he had seen the figure disappear.

Jude hesitated. If the guards were getting involved, then maybe that person was a criminal. Maybe they were even dangerous. But their injuries seemed so serious that he couldn't bear to think of them going untreated. And besides, wasn't it more likely that the guards would be in search of whoever had _done_ that?

Taking a deep breath as he made his decision, Jude scurried out of hiding and headed toward the alleyway into which the figure had disappeared. It didn't take long for him to find them. He found a woman lying behind a dumpster. Her breathing was shallow, her fair skin bruised, her pale hair messy. She didn't seem to have any open cuts—perhaps she'd been able to heal herself?—but her clothes were torn and bloodied.

"Figures," said the woman, either laughing or coughing, and more blood trailed out the corner of her mouth. Jude felt cold just thinking about the pain she must be in. Even without any visible cuts, she must still have internal injuries. "Run along, boy, and don't tell a soul. This doesn't concern you."

"Wh-what do you mean?" asked Jude, kneeling carefully next to the woman. This was nothing short of an emergency. Even with as few artes as he had at his disposal, he didn't know what else to do than try to heal her, or at least ease her pain until some professionals could come. "You're hurt."

The woman made a derisive noise, but said nothing. Nor did she try to stop Jude as he began channeling, paying close attention to her reactions so he could tell if he made a mistake. Her breathing evened slightly as he worked.

As Jude's eyes lingered on her face, he found that something about her seemed familiar, even like this. It took him a moment to recognize her, but on closer investigation, she looked like the school receptionist. Jude couldn't be sure how old she was, but something about her seemed younger than he had initially thought. Maybe it was because she was missing her glasses.

The glow disappeared, and Jude glanced down at his hands. It was a spell of only mild healing; the spirits must have finished their work. "That's as much as I've ever done," said Jude, the glow disappearing, and glanced outside the alley, shifting as he prepared to get back to his feet. "I'll go get help."

" _No_ ," said the woman, and something in her tone—panic, anguish, desperation—made Jude stop before he could so much as get to his feet. "Don't. Please."

She said it like she was begging for her life, or else Jude would have asked why. Instead, unable to bring himself to ignore her and go, he stayed put and thought a moment, finger to his temple. "I know the theory behind some of the more advanced artes," he said slowly. "But I've never used them on anyone before. Is that… okay?" A part of him felt that this was too dangerous, but she'd seemed so genuinely terrified at the idea of his fetching help…

"Yeah, sure," said the woman. "You couldn't mess me up any more than they did, anyway."

"Who?"

The woman didn't say anything, and Jude couldn't muster the concentration to ask again, so he poured all his focus into his artes instead. He had been labeled a prodigy before he had come to Fennmont to start his studies, and it usually felt nice to hear that, but it was making himself useful that really made him feel alive.

Eventually, the glow faded again, and Jude lowered his hands, unable to suppress a smile despite his fatigue. He had managed to channel spirits into performing a much more advanced arte than most people his age were capable of harnessing, and more importantly, it hadn't backfired somehow and hurt her. That was something to be proud of.

Jude glanced back up to find that the woman was smiling too, even if it faded quickly. "Thanks, boy," she said, already struggling to get to her feet. Reaching out to support her, Jude got up with her. "You probably saved my worthless life."

"Nobody's worthless."

The woman just gave a cynical laugh. "Tell that to the rest of the world," she said, edging along the alley wall and peeking around the corner before tossing a look back at Jude almost as an afterthought. "Now, run along."

"What?" asked Jude, frowning. Even with his help, the woman had lost a lot of blood before he'd gotten to her, and she looked like she could barely stand. "Why?" Now that she wasn't in danger, his questions were beginning to overwhelm his sense of urgency.

"It won't be good for you if anyone thinks you and I are connected."

Jude's frown deepened. Why would that matter? "I didn't do anything wrong."

"But I did, if you ask the guards," said the woman, with a somewhat condescending air of patience. "And you helped me. So if they find you, they might take you in for questioning. They might even arrest you if you're seen with me."

"That's crazy," said Jude, wide-eyed. "I'm only thirteen!"

"Pretty young to be throwing your life away," said the woman, and the smile she gave him this time was neither sincere nor humorous. It set Jude on edge, every bit as much as the ominous words that accompanied it. "But I guess they said the same thing about me, way back when."

Jude couldn't help but feel that his age was irrelevant, and that his youth was only making the woman look down on him more, so he just scowled. "I'm sure they'll understand if I just explain what happened."

The woman snorted. "Sure. You go ahead and believe that, but don't say I didn't warn you when they haul you in."

She didn't sound like she was joking in the slightest, and something clicked in Jude's mind. He hadn't wanted to believe it, but given how she was acting and what she was saying, combined with Jude's observations about the guards… "Were they the ones who—?"

The woman shot him a sharp look, and Jude stopped talking as though she'd clapped her hand over his mouth. "You're asking too many questions, boy," she said, lowering her voice until it almost resembled a growl. "Better stop before I give you some answers you don't want to hear."

"My name isn't 'boy'," said Jude, feeling that this woman was determined to see him only as a child, and not a concerned citizen. "It's Jude."

"Yeah?" asked the woman, sounding somewhat disinterested. "I'm Mink."

Jude hadn't paid much attention to her name tag when she was the receptionist, but it was such a unique name that if he had, maybe he would have noticed her appearance too, and recognized her sooner. "That's… an interesting name."

"Thanks. I picked it out myself."

As she spoke, Mink started walking, and Jude couldn't think of anything else to do but follow her. Mink's wounds may have been healed, but she still clearly wasn't in great shape. He couldn't help but worry. "Where will you go?"

Mink did not look back at him. "Back to Auj Oule."

Jude blinked a few times. Nothing about this woman made sense. "You're from Auj Oule?"

"Yeah." Mink smiled at Jude's obvious surprise. "I look like I'm from Rashugal, right? I get that a lot." She looked at Jude awhile longer, but he wasn't sure how to take her smile this time. It was friendly enough, but it still wasn't quite what he would call _warm_. "But you look like you're from Auj Oule, so I guess we balance each other out."

Jude could only nod. He hadn't been told that before, but he took after his mother. Maybe she had some Auj Oulian blood somewhere, but they had never spent much time talking about their family tree. Mom always had a lot to do, even if she had less work than Dad, and their time together was often limited to meals and help on schoolwork. (Maybe that was why Jude had been able to handle staying in Fennmont on his own.)

Only as they arrived at the seahaven did Jude realize he had gotten absorbed in his thoughts and forgotten to offer Mink a real response. He opened his mouth to say something trivial, but Mink stiffened before he could speak, holding out her arm to stop him in his tracks. "Be on your guard."

Even being on guard couldn't stop the soldiers from flooding in, coming out of nowhere. They were surrounded before Jude knew it, soldiers in maroon armor with their weapons at the ready. Pointed at Mink… and him.

Frozen, Jude scarcely had time to get used to the situation before the one who appeared to be their commander stepped forward. "You're both under arrest."

Staring around at the soldiers, every one of them with a spear at the ready, Jude put his hands up slowly. That was what he was supposed to do when confronted with the law, right? The prospects of being _arrested_ felt so surreal that he couldn't think straight. He'd never even imagined breaking a law before, let alone actually done it. "I—I didn't do anything!"

"You mean other than aiding and abetting a wanted criminal?"

"What did Mink do?" Jude's voice cracked, and he swallowed.

"Hate to break it to you, kid, but she's an Auj Oulian spy," said one of the soldiers. "Real good at getting whatever she wants. Looks like she got you under her spell, too."

The soldier spoke dismissively, as if Mink wasn't even human, and an image of her blood splashing to the ground flashed across Jude's mind. No one deserved that kind of pain, and she hadn't seemed like a bad person. "If she broke the law, then arrest her!" shouted Jude, clenching his fists. This wasn't right. "Don't—don't _torture_ her!"

"Are you stupid or something?" asked another of the soldiers, and though Jude couldn't see her face, it sounded like she was sneering. "We did what we had to. Nothing more."

"She was almost dead when I found her!" exclaimed Jude. Even as he spoke, a horrible thought occurred to him, and his mouth went dry. Mink had managed to escape, which was lucky, but… "If she hadn't run away, would you have killed her without even giving her a trial?"

"Auj Oule could destroy us with the information she's got!"

They weren't even trying to deny it. Jude felt sick, a treasonous thought creeping across his mind before he could stop it. _If this is the kind of place Rashugal really is, maybe Auj Oule is better after all_.

The commander leveled his spear at Jude. "Come quietly, kid."

Jude scowled, putting his fists up, and assumed the combat stance Sonia had taught him. He may only have been trained in fighting unarmed opponents thus far, but he had to do _something_. This was an injustice. Maybe they'd be reluctant to fight a child; maybe that would make them understand. "No."

There was an extremely tense silence, or perhaps Jude just couldn't hear anything over his heartbeat. He glanced around uneasily, finding that every one of the soldiers seemed ready to impale them with those blades. And it seemed, from the way the commander raised his hand, they were about to get the order to do so.

Bracing himself, Jude registered the roar of water before he saw streams of it knock back the soldiers. There were screams among the bystanders, whom Jude had not noticed until now—they must have been hanging around some distance away—and for a moment, he was lost in the chaos.

"Jude!" exclaimed Mink, raising her voice above all others. "This way!"

Jude's legs obeyed before his head had reached its conclusion. He sprinted after her, not questioning where they were going, not even when she seemed to be headed for the ocean itself. She turned around and dove backwards, extending her hand, and Jude jumped without thinking. Stretching out his hand, he barely managed to catch Mink's before the sea swallowed them both.

It felt like forever that Jude was submerged. His eyes had squeezed shut automatically as soon as they had made contact, but he could feel from the rush of the water that they were moving very fast through the sea. After what seemed an unbearably long time—Jude half thought he might pass out from holding his breath—the ocean spat them back out onto solid ground.

A ferry.

Jude spent the first half minute gasping for breath, half trying to embrace the wooden deck below him. Any thoughts he might have had about his future had disappeared, to be replaced by doubt that he would even _have_ a future. Now, he felt only sweet relief to be alive, shivering from head to toe. All the more once Mink cast some sort of arte to dry him off.

"All right, time for me to explain the situation to the captain," said Mink, sounding only slightly the worse for wear. Against all odds, she seemed _more_ alive and energetic. Maybe it was the adrenaline that came from a fight. "Wait here. If anyone asks, you're my kid cousin." And with that, she disappeared belowdecks, before Jude could even voice his understanding.

Time dragged on, almost as much as it had underwater. Once Jude's lungs were working again, his feelings began flooding back, fear and shame and a strange sort of exhilaration he had never felt before. Here he stood on the threshold of completely foreign territory, literally and otherwise. He'd only been on a boat to come to Fennmont, and now he was going spirits knew where.

Alone.

Jude shivered. Though he had only known Mink for half an hour at most, her presence had been enough of a distraction that the full brunt of his situation hadn't crashed down on him before. Now, he fully recognized that he had turned his back on his country, even his family. Who would tell them what had happened? Would they love him more for standing up for a stranger, or hate him for breaking the law? How long could he evade the Fennmont soldiers?

Perhaps this had all been a nightmare, and Jude would wake up on the boat back to Leronde.

They left Fennmont's spirit clime behind before long, and Jude had to hold up his hand to blot out the sky. He hadn't seen the sun in days, and the sky seemed too bright. It hurt his eyes and numbed his thoughts. Jude tried to take advantage of the opportunity to meditate, if only to calm his heart, and repeated to himself under his breath that whatever would happen, would happen. There was no way he could let himself get worked up about it now.

Once Mink finally got back, something about her seemed different, but Jude couldn't place it. If anything had happened, she gave no sign. She simply leaned against the railing, gazing at the sunset, and said, "I asked nicely, so the captain's letting us finish the trip free of charge." She glanced aside at Jude. "Thanks for the diversion back there, by the way."

"Uh, sure," said Jude. He hadn't really intended to act as a diversion, but he was glad he apparently had. It had given Mink the chance to get them out of there, after all, though… he had heard that running from soldiers added to charges. Was he a wanted criminal now? Where could he go? The question burst out of his mouth. "Where are we going?"

"Lakutam Seahaven," said Mink, her voice edged with a sigh, and Jude stiffened. Auj Oule? It was one thing to wonder fleetingly whether Auj Oule might have a better justice system, and another to be stuck on a boat headed there. She _had_ said she was going to go back to Auj Oule, but she couldn't have known that this ferry was bound there. "I can take you as far as Xian Du."

"Can't I…" Jude faltered. He didn't want to sound too much like a child after having worked so hard to convince Mink he was an adult, but at the same time, the prospects of splitting up in such unfamiliar territory were terrifying. "Can I come with you?"

"You don't want to," said Mink, but her voice sounded gentle. "The place I'm going could have me killed."

"Then why are you going there?!" Jude's voice cracked again as he shouted at her, but he didn't care. If what Mink said was to be believed, he had just saved her life. He had placed himself in danger, even risked his neck to stand up for her, and now he was going to somewhere he had never been and never really intended to go, with no way of getting back home. Now she was saying that she might still die after all that?

"It'll be worse for me if they have to track me down," said Mink, with an air of resignation, though looked at Jude with some curiosity out the corner of her eye. "At least if I go to _them_ , I can tell them what happened, apologize for my failure, and hopefully live to see another day." She lowered her head, and then her voice. "People died because of me."

Jude made an effort to calm down, even though his emotions were still running wild. "But… that doesn't mean you should die too." Maybe he had a simple way of looking at the world, but that was really what he thought. There were two sides to every story. Even if people had died because of Mink, what the soldiers had done to her was wrong, too. And she seemed like she regretted it. "You made it through all that! You can't just give up now."

Mink looked taken aback again, then smiled. It was the most genuine smile Jude had seen from her since he had initially healed her. "You're really something, Jude," she said, and this time, she did not look away from him. It was as though she was trying to memorize how he looked right now, though her eyes seemed faraway. "Wish I'd met you sooner."

Jude waited for Mink to say more, but she fell silent instead, and he didn't want to pry. "Thanks," he said instead, the corner of his mouth twitching in what should have been a smile as well. Maybe she was right, and he shouldn't get too close to her. Even just defending her had led to this much, yet he couldn't bring himself to resent her. Would he really have been happy, attending school in Fennmont, blissfully ignorant of how brutally the soldiers there treated criminals…?

Shaking his head to stir himself out of his thoughts, Jude turned his eyes back to the reddening sky, fixing them on the horizon. No matter how he felt, it wouldn't do any good to worry about what might have been, or what should have been. All he could do now was try to get used to his new path, and pray to every spirit he could think of that it wasn't as rough as it looked.


End file.
